The dream began in a familiar way walking through her favourite garden in Hac-Lu. The sunlight warming her skin and the soft feel of the grass carpet beneath her feet, she felt the pure happiness she felt every time she came here. It was paradise, her paradise, and that was how she knew this was a nightmare, the same nightmare. Even as she knew what was coming she tried to remain, struggled to stay here in this paradise with this happiness but soon enough she drew away from paradise shooting through a dark void until she stopped just as suddenly as she had left. In front of her was a throne room more lavish than any in the real world. Before the throne men and women in lavish clothes clinked glasses and danced. She longed to see their face’s but alas they all hid them behind plain white masks that all had different expressions on them. She watched as a lady with a mask shaped into a disapproving frown and a man wearing a smiling mask danced past her. Soon enough she was noticed, Men and women began to flock to her they bowed and cheered raising glasses and offering her food. Then a horn blew and the crowd fell back as in their place several masked knights in shining armour formed a corridor for her to walk down. She walked to the throne even though every part of her wanted to turn and run, she sat down and instantly felt like her arms and legs were bound in place. Unable to move, she watched as a large man walked up to the throne and drew a golden mask from behind his back placing it gently over her face. As he stepped away revealing her to the hall the masked men and women clapped and cheered in celebration before continuing to dance and talk to each other. She didn’t know how long she sat there watching the proceedings through the slits in her mask but she knew when two people stepped to stand beside the throne with her. She knew she shouldn’t look at them, but eventually, her longing to see them won over her knowledge of what would come next. Looking round she saw the woman with a disapproving frown of a mask and she knew that on her other side would be the man who wore a smiling mask. Once she saw the masked woman she knew she shouldn’t have looked, she tried to turn her head back but couldn’t move it in feeling it bound in the same invisible ropes as her arms and legs.

The masked woman turned to her and tilted her head inquisitively before she spoke. “Are you not enjoying yourself?” She struggled to respond but no sound left her mouth. The masked woman looked out at the room and then back at her again and wondered aloud. “Whatever could be wrong? You're the centre of attention, everyone is singing your praises and you are a hero in their eyes.” As the women spoke she raised a hand and started to pull her mask away from her face. It was slight, so only she could she what lay beneath. She struggled to see, struggled to find a feature but all she could see beneath the mask was inky shadows around two bright red eyes that looked at her. She shuddered as she heard the words she already knew were coming “Or is it that you know the truth, That you know that you deserve none of this at all, because you, are a killer.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and it moved her back into the chair head turned once again towards the rest of the hall. The festivities had stopped and now all the masked people simply stared at her from afar, none rushed to save her as the man with a smiling mask stepped out in front of her and drew a long sword. Finally, he spoke, in keeping with his mask, it was a jolly voice almost as if he was about to announce that this was nothing more than a joke. He did not however instead he looked straight at her and said. “You could say that even now we still love you. That is because we have the decency to stab you in the chest rather than the back.” He lead the masked figures in a round of raucous laughter and then swung the blade down.

Lara awoke shivering and covered in sweat, it took her a long time to calm her breathing but when she did she rolled over on her bed and cried silently into a pillow. She didn’t know how many times she had had that dream but every time it left her in the same state, crying into a pillow after waking up in the night just wishing she could forget what she had seen. Lara eventually stopped her tears and got up. The room she slept in was her only sanctuary these days. After the nightmares had taken the garden from her it was all she had left but still, she ran her eyes around the room checking for masked shadows. Lara shook her head, chiding herself for her paranoia, the room was the same as it always was. A well sized third circle room, her bed dominated one wall while the opposite wall contained a desk and a waist-high bookshelf. The largest wall, opposite the door, had a large alcove within which sat a round stain glass window. Below that was a chest that contained her worldly possessions. Around the wall were mounted pots from which flowering vines grew spreading up the tops of the walls and across the ceiling towards the single hanging lamp that swayed gently on a long iron chain.

Lara stood up and walked towards the window the bright moonlight meaning see didn’t have to light the lamp. She put a foot on the chest stepping up before sitting in the gently sloping alcove. The window was her favourite part of the room it was a miss-mash of different coloured glass pieces that made no picture but simply harmonised into a mural of all the shades in the world. When she looked out she could she the world in any one of a hundred different colours depending on how she was sitting, tonight she saw the world outside in a deep purple.

Lara tried her best to forget the nightmare she had had but it wasn't so easy. Lara had never returned to that garden since she began having the nightmare and it only seemed to come more and more frequently lately. She wondered if the garden was still the same as it was in her dreams or if, in the little over a year she had spent away from it, the place was more different than she remembered but she would never go back, that place held to much pain for her. The sun steadily rose and Lara saw the world become pink through the purple shard of glass in the window before leaving the alcove and opening the chest getting ready for the day ahead.

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Teren and the captain stood over the four fresh graves dug into the ground, one each for Joff and the other soldiers who had left the capital with them. They had dug through the night, finally placing the bodies inside their graves as the first rays of the sun had crept through the trees. As for Krunk, the Pig and the other assassins, well, they had left them for the animals to eat. Neither Teren or the Captain had the time or the inclination to give the men their last rights.

After giving the four men a silent prayer both men walked over to the horses they had picked from the 13 they had to choose from. The Captain had taken Krunk's horse, a large black beast that looked hardy and well trained. Teren elected to use the horse he had been using previously, after all, royal horses were fine beasts indeed. Before mounting up both men turned to each other, it was time for the conversation that had been put off while they worked on the 4 graves.

“Care to introduce yourself?” the Captain’s tone was understandably harsh and his eyes made it clear he would not take a refusal to his request.

“13th prince of the Ker-Ja Kingdom or rather the former prince Danen.”

The captain snorted “You had better be after this mess.”

Danen decided he deserved the condescension in the Captain's tone and continued as if he hadn’t noticed it. “I’m sure a military man like yourself can understand the reason for my deception”

The Captain huffed again actually crossing his arms as he spoke. “Sure I get it, your steward also acted as a body double correct?” Danen nodded and he continued “So you swap with your steward and act as if you're sending an overland messenger. To others it looks like you're contacting a foreign power to back you in a bid for the throne so they wait for the messenger to return so they can find out with power has designs on the Ker-Ja kingdom. The trick is that you're not returning and by the time they realise this you will of vanished off the face of the land.”

Danen nodded before responding “That's the gist of it after the messenger leaves my double and my servants would also slip away on a boat from one of the southern ports.”

“But, it didn’t turn out that way.”

“No, it looks like my ‘dear’ brother was already planning to remove me he must have realised that he was one body short and found out the messenger had left for the border. So he sent a squad to deal with me.”

“So do you reckon I should go to ground or not? I doubt I will last long if the 3rd prince is after my hide.”

Danen pondered for a second before responding. “No, as long as my brother thinks I'm dead you won’t be in danger.”

The captain nodded and stepped into the stirrups of his new horse before swinging himself into the saddle. Danen matched his motion, grabbing the reins before looking up again as the Captain spoke. “Your majesty, one last question.” Danen nodded back wondering what the man wanted to know.

“Why are you running? With your talent as a body cultivator, you could easily gain the support of the army and mount a challenge for the throne.”

Before answering Danen looked down at his own hands wondering the same thing. Why did he run? To escape the violence? No, he had proven with his own hands last night that he was not averted to violence. So what was it then, why did he run?. He thought he knew but he would be lying if he didn’t doubt himself and his reason, never the less, he looked up and gave the answer he had come to a hundred times before leaving the capital.

“Do you think my brothers and sisters, any of them, really care about the crown?” The Captain frowned, clearly confused that he had received a question instead of an answer but before he could speak Danen continued “I don’t" and seeing that the befuddlement on the Captain's face was only increasing he pressed on. "Sure they all want to be king or queen but they aren't looking at the crown, just the power. I chose to run because I know that I cannot bear the weight of that crown and without the ability to do that I can never truly use the power that comes with it.”

Danen made to leave on his horse but a sudden thought made him stop and look back at the captain. “Captain I realised that despite my self-introduction you never returned the favour.”

Tha Captain let out a low chuckle. “Mar”

“Mar hmmm, well have a nice life Captain Mar I doubt we will meet again” Danen turned to go but before he got too far he heard the Captain’s response

“Don’t be too sure of that”

Danen grinned despite himself and squeezed his horse's flanks riding off down the road and towards a new life.